Walter De Maria (1935–2013) was an American artist whose sculptures, land works, and installations explored the relationship between the relative and the absolute through geometric form, seriality, and spatial experience. Working at the intersections of Minimalism, conceptual art, and land art, De Maria emphasized bodily awareness and the viewer’s engagement with space.

After earning his master’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1960, he moved to New York City and co-founded a gallery at 9 Great Jones Street, showing work alongside peers such as Donald Judd and Fluxus member La Monte Young. His practice included precise polygonal sculptures, serialized sets, and monumental installations that merged mathematical rigor with poetic sensibility.

Key works include The Lightning Field (1977), a remote New Mexico desert installation of 400 stainless steel poles; The Broken Kilometer (1979), 500 brass rods in SoHo; The New York Earth Room (1977), a loft filled with soil; and The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany. Later projects include Truth / Beauty (1990–2016) and the posthumously completed Truck Trilogy (2011–17). De Maria’s work consistently transformed space, time, and perception, leaving a lasting legacy in contemporary art.

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Based on information provided by the Gagosian website.